No Firing Pins, Please, as the N.R.A. Gathers

Seventy-thousand people are expected to attend the National Rifle Association’s convention opening on Friday in Tennessee, but they won’t be allowed to carry firearms in one of the main convention venues. This may run counter to the N.R.A.’s ideas about carrying guns everywhere, from elementary schools to workplaces.

There will, of course, be plenty of weapons in evidence at the hundreds of display booths, but for convention security the firing pins must be removed. So far, there has been none of the familiar complaint about infringing supposedly sacrosanct Second Amendment rights — the gun lobby’s main argument in opposing tighter federal background checks on gun buyers after the 2012 gun massacre of schoolchildren in Connecticut. Anyone interested in buying the guns on display, many of them adapted from large-magazine battlefield weapons, will have to apply later at a federally licensed gun dealer where, sensibly enough, background checks are required.

The feature of this convention, beyond what is being advertised as “nine acres of guns,” will be the parade of Republican presidential aspirants intent on impressing the N.R.A.’s membership, which is claimed to be more than 4.5 million. Virtually all the potential candidates have been invited to speak, from Jeb Bush to Donald Trump. (Democrats need not apply.)

A notable Republican exception is Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who received a “C” rating from the N.R.A. two years ago during his re-election campaign when he criticized the organization for a “reprehensible” TV ad that called President Obama an elitist for not embracing armed guards in public schools (as the N.R.A. proposes) when his two daughters had heightened security at their school. Also not invited to speak at the leadership forum was the state host, Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican whose rating was downgraded to “C,” according to The Tennessean, after he had signed on to the Mayors Against Illegal Guns organization when he was mayor of Knoxville.

Thoughtful voters will be interested to see if any of the potential candidates speaks against the grain of the convention. Anyone who wants to be president should face the issue of gun safety free of pandering talk. Will someone dare offer a practical idea to reduce the tens of thousands of gun deaths citizens suffer each year? Or at least quibble with the N.R.A.’s prescription — to arm ever more citizens with guns?

Correction:

An editorial on Friday about the National Rifle Association’s convention incorrectly described the rules for carrying concealed firearms at the event. Carrying is prohibited at one of the main convention venues, not all of them.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A26 of the New York edition with the headline: No Firing Pins, Please, as the N.R.A. Gathers. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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